In the detergent industry enzymes have for more than 30 years been implemented in washing formulations. Enzymes used in such formulations comprise proteases, lipases, amylases, cellulases, as well as other enzymes, or mixtures thereof. Commercially most important enzymes are proteases.
An increasing number of commercially used proteases are protein engineered variants of naturally occurring wild type proteases, e.g. DURAZYM® (Novozymes A/S), RELASE® (Novozymes A/S), MAXAPEM® PURAFECT® (Genencor International, Inc.).
Further, a number of protease variants are described in the art. A thorough list of prior art protease variants is given in WO 99/27082.
However, even though a number of useful proteases and protease variants have been described, there is still a need for new improved proteases or protease variants for a number of industrial uses.
In particular, the problem of removing egg stains from e.g. laundry or hard surfaces has been pronounced due to the fact that substances present in the egg white inhibit many serine proteases. Examples of such substances include trypsin inhibitor type IV-0 (Ovo-inhibitor) and trypsin inhibitor type III-0 (Ovomucoid).
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide improved subtilase enzymes, which are not, or which are only to a limited extent, inhibited by such substances. A further object of the present invention is to provide improved subtilase enzymes that are suitable for removal of egg stains from, for example, laundry and/or hard surfaces.